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The Balearic Minister for Tourism, Celesti Alomar, hit the nail on the head when he said last week that the Balearic tourist industry has to bring itself up to date with the latest trends. The bucket and spade package holidays to the sun is becoming a thing of the past - more and more British travellers and “going independent” and tour operators, some of which are already paving the way for a New Year price war with “two-for-one” holidays currently on offer to try and kick start next summer's market, believe that the Mediterranean could become fashionable as a “weekend destination” and that the two-week package holiday on a traditional Mediterranean beach left in the last millennium. Tour operators have topped Cyprus as “the” destination for 2001 with bookings expected to rise by over 20 percent and tour operators are discovering that British holidaymakers to the Mediterranean want to explore the region instead of sitting on the beach. One leading tour operator, for example, is offering wine tasting in Majorca next year.

But for the New Year, Britons are flocking to airports in a bid to get away to some sunshine after a wet and freezing run up to Christmas and opting to stay at home last year because of the great Millennium swindle.